Its been called the anti-trust trial of the century, the five months during which the world’s most successful software company, the flagship of the digital revolution, was hauled into court, accused of bullying and in some cases destroying its competition illegally.
And the world’s richest man revealed to the world as a truculent, evasive witness. Since the Microsoft anti-trust trial in Judge Thomas Pennfield Jackson’s court, the big company has seen many of its executives leave and its stock drop half its value. But over the past two days, Microsoft’s fortunes have begun to improve as a federal appeals court has sharply attacked the government’s case and the judge who presided over the trial.
Microsoft claims that Judge Jackson’s comments to reporters during the trial show a bias that should disqualify him, and the appeals court judges appear to agree. Coming up on the Connection, what’s next for Bill Gates and Microsoft?
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Ken Auletta, author of “World War 3.0: Microsoft and its Enemies”
and Bob Lyton, Brookings Institute.